Raider Apprentice - Addons

You ever found desktop so full of icons that you almost need to use a search engine to find the folder you need? Or your desk/working place literally hidden by mountains of papers, hole-punchers, sticky notes, staplers, folders, binders, pens and other office tools? Well, things like that can happen in WoW too, and I am an unfortunate victim of Addon addiction.

I can't raid if at least 10 addons are not monitoring various aspects of my game - raid status, deaths, heals, positioning, cooldowns, buffs & debuffs, damage output, disconnects, enrage & spell timers, adds... I need to know what's going on around me, and be able to adjust accordingly. When I am not doing stuff for Wowhead or playing, I spend some of my free time browsing random addons with the hope that I will find something I and my guild may find useful. Sometimes it is those little things that really can make or break a raid. In this blog I am going to list some of basic addons every raid should consider downloading. They are by no means mandatory, but a lot of them make the game more enjoyable improve the efficiency of the individual player.

So let's take a closer look at some of the addons (I think) every raider should at least consider getting:

Unit Frames

Note: Many healers will choose a Unit Frames addon that allows them to see the whole raid in a small panel, and complement it with Clique, to allow quick single-button heals or debuff removers.

AG Unit Frames - ag_uf is another replacement for Blizzard's default unit frames, with features similar to X-Perl, but more lightweight in my opinion. I personally have had problems with its configuration, but I hear a lot of good things about it.

Action Bars

Dominos - Dominos is a stable and easy to use lightweight addon that manages up to 10 action bars (maximum of 12 slots in each) and offers movement of default frames like the Minimap, the Casting bar and the Roll panel.

*Button Facade is a small Addon that complements Action Bar Addons by adding different effects to the buttons. You can search for more fan-made Button Facade packs in WoWInterface.

Raid Mods

Deadly Boss Mods - this addon will provide you and your raid with important information about the spells bosses cast, buff and debuff gains during some boss fights, and information about Battleground timers. It is additionally customizable to provide timers for manually added spells.

Statistics

Omen - A threat monitor, useful for DPS, Tanks and Healers alike. It's small, easy to configure and readily provides you with information about how threatening you are towards the targeted monster. Supports 110% melee/130% ranged warnings.

Map

Cartographer - A very detailed and thorough map addon that includes maps of zones and dungeons, boss loot, some quest information, locations of trainers and profession masters, and few nifty world map settings, like full transparency of certain areas, and a mini version of the world map, visible at all times on your screen.

Atlas - An open world & instance maps atlas. Simple, easy to configure and useful. Often used with AtlasLoot Enhanced, which provides information about boss loots, crafted items, Badge/Emblem rewards, and other like these.

Raid Support

Decursive - Often considered one of the most important addons for a class that can remove debuffs, Decursive provides a small window that allows quick access to debuffed party members. Paladins, Priests, Druids, Shamans and Mages will find this addon more than helpful.

Now, out of that mess, I don't think you need all of the Addons. That'd be a disaster! Not to mention that several of the same type (Unit Frames, Action Bars) may be incompatible with each other. I generally encourage the use of: one Unit Frames, one Action Bars, one Boss Addon. Decursive if your class is supported. Omen definitely. Map Addons are not really necessary, but it helps to be able to check a boss' loot before actually going to him. Paladins may consider PallyPower for easier Blessing management, but that's about it.

Of course, there are hundreds other addons that will make your raiding and general playing experience better. Better Inbox will make sure you don't dread the time when you have to pick 50 mails from the AH. Various square minimap Addons will ensure that you have the prettiest minimap in the world. OmniCC will add nice and distinguishable cooldowns to your spells, and Elkano's Buff Bars will put all your buffs and debuffs in a nice and organized frame. But you don't really need any of those - not really. They are nice to have, but you can certainly live through without them.

But this is what I think good for a beginner raider - a few Addons to make sure their UI doesn't become too crammed, a few addons to help them utilize their abilities to the best, and a bit of fun here and there. I think it a successful formula. What is your Addon formula? Do you download everything shiny you find, or do you like to keep it low and clean? Do you think I have missed an important beginner's Addon, and if so - what is it and why is it so important?

Comment by jenexx

on 2009-03-28T14:37:40-05:00

I use healbot.

And don't forget Bejeweled!

Comment by Itima

on 2009-03-28T15:25:42-05:00

Warning massive wall of addons inc!

This is my addon list I cant play without them tbh.ImprovedCamera is really a must for tank you can really see everything when its on, you really don't need the addon there's a script that does the same I just want the addon so its loaded on every new char I make. *cough* altoholic *cough*

EDIT: Oh and I don't get how ppl can use xperl so ugly, all though it has some nifty features.

Comment by jamesiha777

on 2009-03-28T15:58:51-05:00

I use...Bartender 4oUF Nivaya - http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11078-oUF_Nivaya.html Great unit/raid frames which are very customizable and small, good for keeping your UI minimalisticOmen, DBM, and Recount (of course)CleanMiniMap - mostly so i can make it square and move it to the left side.Satrina Buff Frames - VERY customizable, your buff bars can do anything w/ this addon and everything is easy to move/resize.

Comment by Eluneril

You will also need to download an action bar addon such as bartender. Personally, I prefer dominos, but it's your choice.

Comment by cawfee

on 2009-03-28T20:34:57-05:00

EventHorizon is a must for any warlock or shadow priest to maintain proper uptimes :D

Comment by NimbleRabit

on 2009-03-29T03:26:47-05:00

Decursive is not necessary, it's simpler to just use grid + clique or a mouseover macro in my opinion. You missed oUF for unit frames, and Recount for damage meters (I know not necessary, but many raiders use it). Another unit frame that deserves mention is PerfectRaid, many people find it very nice and easy to set up.

Comment by ZachUSAman

Comment by Wrassinn

Comment by mech6982

on 2009-03-29T17:25:32-05:00

I was excited to see Totemus come back when I began playing a shaman again, but sadly it's not the same addon it once was. The last time I used the revived Totemus addon, I noticed that the author was unsuccessful in allowing each element's menus to collapse - meaning all totems and weapon buffs are viewable at all times. If you really wanted to see that all the time, you could use an action bar addon to add more bars to your screen.

I have found it more helpful to simply write a macro to reduce the number of action bars and slots required. #showtooltip /cast Strength of Earth Totem; Stoneskin TotemEND I'm one of the dreaded clickers. It may be possible to create a macro that does the same thing for hotkeys, but as I won't be using them... I'm not going to bother looking :p

Comment by Corqueange

on 2009-03-29T18:03:52-05:00

I see a distinct lack of the Wowhead Looter in these posts.

Comment by vexis58

on 2009-03-29T20:34:10-05:00

I have found it more helpful to simply write a macro to reduce the number of action bars and slots required. #showtooltip /cast Strength of Earth Totem; Stoneskin TotemEND I'm one of the dreaded clickers. It may be possible to create a macro that does the same thing for hotkeys, but as I won't be using them... I'm not going to bother looking :p

You don't need that "END" at the end of your macro there.

I use PitBull for my party frames, and Healbot for raiding, but I despise click-casting, either with Clique or the built-in features of Healbot (I mainly use Healbot because it shows only my HoTs, which Pitbull cannot currently do on raid frames). I started out healing on a priest, and with the large number of spells I had, I found it very difficult to remember which spell was assigned to control/shift/right-click or whatever.

I just make mouseover macros for all of my spells, so that I can remember 1 is for Regrowth, 2 is for Rejuv, 3 is for Lifebloom... mouseover macros are much nicer to me than trying to remember the click combinations.

#showtooltip/use

A lot of my other abilities are macros so that I can just hold down shift or control or alt to access things I don't use very frequently, like my professions or shapeshifting into non-tree forms.

Comment by Celdhyrean

on 2009-03-30T07:33:14-05:00

I did notice that ArgentSun said Bartender4 includes a vehicle interface; really? I cannot get my Bartender4 to show a vehicle bar.

It does and i didn't have to configure anything for it to work. Make sure posession is activated on bar 1 and as Niteniten58 said, make sure your action bar is long enough (though i personnaly have both the exit on the bar and in the middle of the screen with the tilt buttons).

General play specific addons (things that have an impact in raids) : - Bartender4 - Pitbull for unit-frame, target, target of target and focus - Quartz for castbars - Classtimers for timers for dots, hots and the like

In raids, i'm using : - Grid for raid frames : full time raid leader and part time healer, i need the overview - Bigbrother : monitors buffs, food and flasks, shows misdirection and trick of the trades, and tells who broke CC - Bigwigs : encounter timer addon - XLoot's ML module, to order people by class and not by group (as i'm also often the master looter and the basic Blizzard UI is just a pain in the ass) - Raid Leading / analysis:

Recount : for raid leading, 95% of the times i only use the "Death" window. I know there addons dedicated to that but Recount does other things too (knowing what a healer was healing or what a dps what attacking).

Loggerhead for combatlog logging to be used with WWS for post-raid analysis

Comment by killerpet

Comment by Myhv

on 2009-03-30T15:01:23-05:00

I like to try out new addons from time to time, but for the core ones that I use:

Frames: I dont know why ppl like x-pearl and bartender and all the simular addons... After having tons of problems with vehicle bars I understood that it's not worth it. I use blizz action bars (just remove gryphons and they look ok). Player/target and focus are also default. As for party frames I use grid (even if I'm playing DPS or tank)cause its very compact, but the original frames are removed with "Move Anything" addon.

A for the "other" addons I must say that Carbonite is WAY better than questhelper. It has a better interface, more features and a very cool and helpful map addon in it. It looks like Cartographer3, but has way less bugs and in total carbonite uses a lot less memory than questhelper and cartographer.

OneBag is a nice inv addon, add something that will help you use AH and will ad prices in tooltip - and you'r almost ready. Recount is a default DMG meter for most people ^^ and some other addons like power auras (if u like to persomaly edit all notifications) or class addons like Call of Elements and Shamans friend + some kind of scrollinf battle text and that all... kinda

Comment by GenXCub

on 2009-03-30T15:51:16-05:00

MikScrollingCombatText is another good one. I use it to notify me when cooldowns are over, and it's also great if I'm on a toon that does a lot of AoE, instead of seeing a giant explosion of numbers over everyone's head, I just see

(25250, 10 hits, 3 crits)

or something like that fly past me.

Comment by mech6982

on 2009-03-30T21:17:15-05:00

You don't need that "END" at the end of your macro there.

I'm aware. I should've removed it... I merely copied the macro straight out of my wow directory's temp files. It's a tag the game adds by default, and is not shown in game.